Bills injuries: S Micah Hyde (neck), DE AJ Epenessa (rib) week to week

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Bills took two more body blows on defense Sunday, losing safety Micah Hyde to a neck stinger and defensive end A.J. Epenesa to a rib injury in Buffalo’s 20-17 win in Kansas City. Both players were listed as week to week by coach Sean McDermott on Monday.

McDermott did provide an encouraging update on defensive tackle DaQuan Jones, saying “there is a chance” the lineman could return from his pectoral injury before the end of the season.

Jones, who got hurt in the loss against the Jaguars in London, is one of three starters missing from Buffalo’s battered defense, along with All-Pro linebacker Matt Milano and top cornerback Tre’Davious White.

“He’s working his tail off,” McDermott said. “He is here every day, he’s got a great attitude, a great outlook on a daily basis and we’ll see where it goes. We’re kind of getting into the phase of he’s putting in a lot of work with our training staff, with our strength and conditioning staff so we’re starting to really make those football type movements.

“From here, I wait on them to tell me, ‘Hey, when is does the green light come on?’ And we’re probably between red and yellow right now and moving in that direction toward green at some point here.”

Hyde, who left Sunday’s game in the third quarter after going down twice on a Chiefs drive, had neck surgery last September and missed the rest of the 2022 season. He first sustained a neck stinger this season in a loss at Cincinnati in November. He missed the following game against the Broncos, and had been listed on practice injury reports over the past few weeks.

Epenesa was injured in the first quarter against the Chiefs after making an impressive interception. The NFL’s leader in batted passes with eight, Epenesa relied on his basketball shot-blocking instincts to tip Patrick Mahomes’ pass at the line, and grabbed the caroming ball for his third takeaway of the season. Through the 13 games in his fourth season being drafted in the second round, Epenesa is tied for second on the Bills with 6.5 sacks, matching his career-high from last season.

“He’s had one of those years where you’re waiting for it and you’re hoping for it and credit him,” McDermott said. “He’s put the work in, he’s changed some of his routines, his routine week to week. And he’s reaped the benefits of that.”

With Epenesa out of the pass rush rotation, the Bills become more reliant on Von Miller, who has been slow in returning to All-Pro form following ACL surgery. Miller’s availability also could be affected by his recent arrest for alleged domestic violence in Texas.

“First, holistically, with what he has going on outside, no new information as I mentioned late in the week,” McDermott said. “So where we are with that, there’s no information to make a decision on, or no new information to make a decision on at this point. So we will stay as up to date as possible on that.

“And then from a football standpoint, I thought he did some things this week that were a little bit different than what he had shown in the past in terms of putting a little bit more pressure on the quarterback, I think he hit the quarterback another time in there. So I thought we started to see an uptick in some of the production there.”

Taylor Rapp, who will replace Hyde at safety, missed Buffalo’s loss in Philadelphia before the bye week after injuring his neck in the previous game against the New York Jets. After signing with the Bills in free agency before the season, Rapp has filled in for both Hyde and Jordan Poyer, becoming “more and more comfortable with what we do and how we expect it to look,” McDermott said Monday. “Taylor is one of our hardest workers, I can promise you that. A true pro, a true pleasure to work with. We’re just super confident in him.”

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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.

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